My sister's Sketches

I just got these sketches my little sister Sahara did. I think these are really good and would like to share with you all.

Jogi Chilling out.


This one is my favorite. Its just too good.


Seems like there was a little problem with scanning with this one, but its still pretty good.


Here is another good one. its a Okhal BTW.


Cool right? And guess what? She is only on 8th grade. Isn't that amazing! I am so proud of her.

Happy shivaratri

Apparently today is Shivaratri in Nepal. I knew it was near but hadn't realized that today was the day. When in Nepal, Shivaratri didn't really mean much to me apart from the fact that it would be a holiday. But Now that I am in US, it makes me kind of sad that I am missing it.

We usually used to go to our Mama-ghar (maternal uncle's house :} ) on this festival. My mamaghar is in Chabel, near Pashupati temple. With tens of thousands of worshippers going to Pashupati on that day, the whole road would be jammed with people. The entire road from Gaushala to Chabel would be filled with people either going to Pashupati or coming back from there. So no vehicle could pass that stretch and we had to walk all the way from there. It was fun watching all the people singing and dancing in the street.

One year, I think I was 10 or may be 11 when I went to my mamaghar the day before Shivaratri. I stayed there that night so that I could go to the Pashupatinath temple with my grandma on the next day. My grandma used to go to the temple everyday. Since its unbelievably crowded in the temple in this festival, we made plans to go very early so that we could enter the temple easily . However when my grandma woke me up next day, i was too lazy and told her I would go the next day.

Next day my grandma, her sister (my small grandma as we call her), my uncle and I went to the temple. We left our shoes outside the temples with one of those flower vendors and went inside. We went inside did puja and when we come back, guess what we find out. My shoe was gone. Someone had stolen my shoe from the foot steps of the temple. It was one of those 'fish' sandals and it was new too. I thought that God was punishing me because I was too lazy to come a day earlier on the Shivaratri. I was really sad. My small grandma gave me her shoes and she herself walked bare feet all the way back to home. She is too sweet and too kind.

OK enough with my ramblings...

Happy Shivaratri all of you.

journey to end of a rainbow

Answer to my question
I want to know,
But I wouldn't know
till I go.

miles after miles,
day after day
my life, my journey
my search, my quest

I have no time to rest
no time to spare
people all around me
no need to care.

A little more respect,
All I want.
A little more love,
All I need.

'Ji Newa' essay competition

On January, a facebook group 'Ji Newa' held an essay competition on the topic 'How to protect Newari language'. I took part and came third. Won 50$ :).
Here is the essay.

It is said that the language is a window to a human’s soul. Language brings people together by allowing them to communicate, to express their love and happiness and to share their sorrow. So when a language is not used any more, it narrows the scope of humanity. When a language dies, the culture associated with that language suffocates too.

According to wikipedia, more than 800,000 Nepalese speak Newari as their mother language. Newari language binds into one thread more than 1.25 millions of Newars living in Nepal. This language sits at the heart of one of the most diverse and rich Newari culture in the world. However, more and more Newars are not using the language any more. There is no doubt that the language needs to be saved from extinction to save the culture itself. Let us see what we can do to save this language.

The first and foremost thing we can do to save language is actually use it. I know so many Newars who rarely speak in Newari even though they can speak the language fluently. There is no way to save a language if nobody uses it. Also what is the point of saving a language if nobody uses it? It’s understandable that we cannot only speak in Newari, because not everyone understands this language, but if two people who can speak Newari, they should definitely speak in this language.

When parents don’t speak in their mother language, a child will not learn it either. We have to speak with our children in Newari. We should tell them to read and learn Newari literature. Newari should be taught in schools too. Children nowadays spend so much time in school. And the trend being that more and more schools use English as teaching medium, children don’t get much chance to talk in their mother language. So a class in Newari might help transfer the knowledge of this language to next generation.

Language is not only spoken, it’s also written. So to save a language, we have to save all the literature written in this language. We have been blessed with so many brilliant Newar littérateurs. So many great poems and stories have been written in Newari. These need to be collected and properly documented. Writers who write in Newari should be encourages and rewarded. There are numerous Newari folk tales that my mother used to tell me at the bed time. These need to be saved and preserved in writings. A library for Newari literatures might be a very good idea. What we need here is quantity of quality language. To do so, we have to publish Newari magazines. Make TV shows and Movies in the Newari language. Newari film ‘Rajamati’ was such a hit when it came out. Movies like this can provide a great aid on saving a language.

There hasn’t been much academic work done in Newari language. We should start doing this. Translating the Newari literatures in Nepali and even English can help gather interest from many people who don’t speak Newari. We must understand that a language is all about people. More people taking interest in language can guarantee the future use of this language. That’s why we should encourage people to work in this language. This essay competition is a fine example of how we can make people interested in this language. Activities such as these remind people that they are losing something that they should hold dear to their heart.

Preserving only the written Newari is however not enough. Language is a tool of communication and way of getting attention of others. When we speak, it’s not only the words that matter, but the tone of it, the body language, the expression of face and eye make a huge difference too. In almost all languages, the same words spoken with different tone and expression are interpreted differently, sometimes giving almost opposite meaning. That’s why we have to document spoken language. Recording the audio or even better a video of our grandfathers and grandmother speaking in Newari is absolutely essential.

As with everything, making use of information technology can be really helpful here. There are numerous ways in which we can use IT to save Newari language. We can localize popular software in Newari language. Microsoft’s windows operating system now comes in so many local languages. It has already been localized in Nepali language, so there should be no reason why it can’t be translated in Newari. One more thing we can do is make websites dedicated to Newari language. A Website where people can read Newari articles and also submit their own work. This will allow the Newars all over the world to make contribution to saving the language.

Every Newa can and has to do his part on saving this language. Nobody is asking for much. All we have to do is actually use this language as much as we can. WE have to teach our children to speak in Newari. However I would like to point out that it’s not only Newars who are responsible for saving Newari. Nepali is such a great country because of its ethnic diversity and its rich culture diversity. So saving each culture and language is a responsibility that falls to the shoulder of all Nepali people and not only the Newari community.

No life no title

God, i need people to talk to.
I hate these people.
I think I will explode.
Nothing helps.
God this hurts.
I resent you.
No wait, I don't resent you.
Ignorance would be such a bliss.
I wish I couldn't read between the lines.
So what were you saying? I was busy listening to the things you were not saying.
Recreational drugs.
Why put raincoat when you are already wet.
Alone and TV barely helps.
Would you stop being nice already. Its boring.
Remove your heart and you will be fine.
Complicated.
What is the price of my sanity?
And I thought I knew the answer.
Far Away.

I have nothing to say. Nothing.

Love needs a holiday...

Last week, i asked one of my friend, what were his plans for Valentines day. He hadn't made any special plan with his girlfriend as he (and his girlfriend) didn't exactly believe in the V-day. He said that if you love someone, everyday has to be and can be a valentines day and there is no point in treating one particular day as a special one. Even though he is right about there being nothing significant about the date February 14 (except may be for the Hallmark), I don't think the idea of 'everyday, valentines day' is a possibility. Especially for a long mature relationship.

New love is exciting in all ways. But if you want love to evolve into long term "meaningful" relation, the level of excitement has to go down. After sometime, as things calm down and the thrill of new love eventually wears off, it might get pretty routine and almost boring. Add to that the pressure from real life responsibilities and the notion of 'everyday V-day' seems more like work than fun.

People change. The way they think, their perception, their action and reaction, their interest and behavior, their responsibility with the family, job and society, everything changes as time passes. Change is inevitable and love is no exception to this rule. As people in love change, their relation changes. You may be hard believer of 'eternal love' but you cannot deny the evolution of love. Love changes and there is nothing we can do to stop the change. What we can do however is to accept the changes and try to make best out of it. We might try to rekindle the flame that once lit in our heart as love.

There is a song called called 'Love needs a holiday' sung by popular country singer Reba McEntire. Its about a married couple who go out to spend a weekend by themselves so that they can rejuvenate their love. They had been so busy with their house, kids, jobs whatever, they had almost forgotten about each other. The song is about how their little getaway helped them find each other.

...its hard to be lovers
when life gets into the way
Sometimes, love needs a holiday...

I truly believe each word in this song. There might not be much room for love to breath when we are filled with the intricacies of our daily life. We owe it to ourselves and our significant others to take life out of our the way, so that love can come to us again. We cannot get out of our life and responsibilities every day but its not impossible to do so at least once a year. That day doesn't have to be February 14, but since its already here, lets make use of this day. Next year may be we will choose some other date.

Happy Valentines day everyone.

Seems like some clarification is due...

I received unexpected responses to my posting on the 28th Jan in which I asked 'what to do if you stop loving(liking) a person?'. People have been asking me questions like "Are you all right? what happened?" They thought my own relationship was in trouble. Let me assure you Personally I am not facing this problem.

Then there were you concerned that I was talking about you. Let me reassure that it is none of you. Even if I was talking about anyone in particular, I am sure he doesn't read my blogs. So once again I was not talking about YOU.

My question did come from my own experience however. I have been in the US for over a year now. Over this I have met many people with whom I have made good friends. There aren't many Nepali people here in the city and so its almost like all of us live together as a family. Its the first survival rule. You try to stick with your kind.

In Nepal, it would be easy solution. In fact there wouldn't be this problem at all. I would just ignore this person and avoid any contact. Its not that easy here. I cannot avoid this person even though i don't like his/her company anymore. The person I am talking about is friendly, helpful and all in all a good person. I honestly don't know why I dont like this person. There are no reasons that I can see.

Also, I don't want to break the friendship. Thats why I asked what to do. I didn't want to explain all this and so tried to ask in a short version. I had hoped the short question would be better, but it inadvertently created unnecessary speculations.

Now that I explained it further, I would love to know your opinion about my situation.

Once again ...हाइकु प्रयास

Few days ago, I realized that I waste time too much watching videos at home (Home...?). So I stayed till 10:00 pm at office today even though I am off the clock at 7:30 on Wednesdays. I read a few blogs, visited forums, read articles. It was fun. I even opened a yahoo account. At home all I can do search for new episodes of comedy series. May be I will make a habit of staying late at office from now on.

After I came back, as usual I started watching "South Park". Here is a great line i heard just now. The message is so serious, but it seemed so funny coming out of an odd character of 'South park.'


...'isms' are great for those who are rational, but on hands of irrational people,'isms' always lead to violence...


Also, all that blog reading put me in the mood to try writing a haiku again.
दैव तिमीले
नसुनेको ठिकै छ
मेरो प्रार्थना

What happens if you simply stop loving

I realize its been a long time since i have posted anything. And that whatever small number of people used to come to my blog must have stopped coming a long time ago. However, I have a question that I hope you can help find an answer to.

The question that I have is, "What happens if you simply stop loving somebody the way you used to? What do you do?"

Remember I am not only talking about a boy-girl relationship. (And I am definitely not talking about MY own relationship). I am also talking about the other relations. Say you have a long time friend who comes to your house regularly. Or a office colleague who you have to share your projects with. What do you do if you start hating their guts for no apparent reasons. Has it ever happened to you? HAve you ever started "not liking" a person that you used to be fond of and you cannot find the reasons for this change?